Unseeded Emma Raducanu is the last Brit standing at the HSBC Championships following her straight-sets win on Thursday against Slovakia’s Rebecca Sramkova in London.
Raducanu saved four of six break points in a 6-4, 6-1 victory in 76 minutes, setting up a quarterfinals showdown with top-seeded Qinwen Zheng of China. Zheng outlasted McCartney Kessler 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 in two hours and 11 minutes.
Raducanu’s compatriots did not fare as well. No. 4 seed Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan ousted Heather Watson 6-4, 6-2, and No. 5 Diana Shnaider of Russia rallied past Katie Boulter 2-6, 6-3, 6-2. Shnaider will meet No. 2 seed Madison Keys in the quarterfinals and Rybakina will face unseeded German Tatjana Maria.
Libema Open
Canadian Carson Branstine couldn’t maintain the momentum from her upset of top seed Liudmila Samsonova, falling in straight sets to Romania’s Elena-Gabriela Ruse in the second round in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands.
Ruse won 6-4, 6-3 to move into the quarterfinals against another unseeded Canadian, Bianca Andreescu, who knocked out No. 7 seed Lulu Sun of Australia 6-0, 6-4 in just 65 minutes.
No. 3 seed Elise Mertens of Belgium saved five of six break points in a 6-3, 6-0 defeat of Greece’s Maria Sakkari. Up next for Mertens is China’s Yue Yuan, a 6-4, 6-3 winner over Australia’s Kimberly Birrell. Dutch crowd favorite Suzan Lamens outlasted Ann Li 7-6 (4), 7-6 (5).
–Field Level Media
